Alice's story

Summary:
"My name is Cynthia, sister of Mary Alice Brandon, this is my story." This is the story of Cynthia and Alice's last meeting, continuing to the story of Cynthia's grand daughter finding alice a hundred years later. I suck at summaries

Notes:
This is sorta long. I think it's touching, but then again i cry at everything so just ignore me completely.

1. Chapter 1

My name is Cynthia, sister of Mary Alice Brandon. My parents thought she was crazy, but I knew she was anything but crazy. Just because she could see the future, she was hated by our family, except for me of course. My older sister was like my best friend, even though she wasn’t allowed outside. She was to go to an asylum in a few days, because of our parents. I’d seen it; it was like hell on earth. I wasn’t to tell Alice anything, but she surely already knew. I hated my parents, though miraculously Alice still loved them, after everything they’d done to her.

Alice – as I called her – was beautiful. She had long, glossy black hair, and she was small and slight. Her eyes were big and blue, and she was always hyper when she saw me. She was excellent with hair and make-up. She said it was because she had nothing to do. I was a few inches taller than her, even though I was twelve and she was eighteen. My name is Cynthia Harriet Brandon, this is my story.

Chapter 1: asylum.

“Mother, mother” I called to the empty house. Alice had told me they were planning to take her away; I needed to be here when they did. They couldn’t have already; they just couldn’t do that to her! Not to Alice, my best friend.

“Mother, Father, Alice!” I called hysterically. No one replied. I fell to my knees, breaking down into sobs on the floor. I would never see my sister again; unless… no, that was insane! I couldn’t try to sneak out to see her in there. She wouldn’t want me to see her like that. But what was stopping me really. I realized it wasn’t Alice herself that was stopping me; it was what I might find with her. They could have already tortured her. She could be going insane because of that place. I had to save her from going completely insane.

“Cynthia” my mother called as she came through the door. She sounded worried. I hurriedly got off the floor and rubbed my red eyes dry. I pushed my black hair out of my eyes.

“Mother” I called, moving into her line of sight. I prayed that the ploy I had in mind would work. I wasn’t awful at lying; I just hoped that she would find this convincing. “I need to talk to one of my professors, I forgot to do it on Sunday; it’s about the homework we’re supposed to do this week.” I held my breath, ‘please let this work God, don’t condemn my sister’ I prayed silently.

“That’s fine, just be back by nightfall” she reminded me. “And don’t go looking for your sister, she’s not herself” she warned. That confirmed my suspicions about my sister’s whereabouts. I was more determined to find her than ever.

I nodded to my mother on the way out. I decided to see my professor anyway, to make sure my mother didn’t get suspicious later. The school, to my dismay, was locked up for the evening. I guess I could say I couldn’t get in to the school, but hung around the entrance for ages, just in case.

I took one last look at the school, before hurrying down towards Biloxi’s asylum. I felt the dread in my heart as I rounded the last corner and caught sight of the gloomy building. I took a deep breath, reminding myself of my sister, who desperately needed me right now. I hurried forwards, pushing the heavy door out of my way. I looked around as I got inside, feeling even more dread sink into my stomach. I spotted a ‘doctor’ heading slowly along a corridor.

“Excuse me?” I called, my voice sounding incredibly high pitched. He turned to face me with a half smile that seemed helpful. “Excuse me” I said again, “I’m looking for my sister, Mary Alice Brandon. She would have been brought here earlier today and I was hoping to see her.” I explained quickly.

To my relief he smiled wider. “That’s easy, come this way Miss Brandon.” He started walking off down a corridor to the left. I hurried to his side, eager to see her, yet terrified of what condition I’d find her in.

He led me down a dark corridor, pausing at a barred door on the left. I felt myself shake. He unlocked the door and pushed it open for me. I hesitated in the threshold, taking a deep breath.

I stepped in to small dark room, feeling all my fears realized as I saw it clearly. It was small, dark and empty apart from a steel bed with a thin mattress. I didn’t notice I was crying until I felt the tears running down my face. That’s when I noticed my big sister. She was sitting on the corner of the bed with her face in her hands. The first thing I noticed was the fact that her hair, her beautiful hair was all gone. In its place was a spiky hair cut that stood up around her small face. She was still beautiful, but she already seemed smaller. I’d heard stories about the shock treatment. They shaved the patient’s hair, before wiring them up to machines and trying to shock ‘the devil’ out of the patients. They couldn’t do that to her; she was one of the nicest, kindest, best people I knew!

I took a deep shuddering breath. “Alice” I whispered “Alice it’s me, Cynthia. I’m so sorry; I didn’t get there in time. I’m sorry.” I started to sob uncontrollably. She finally looked up. She obviously recognized me; I could see it in her big blue eyes.

“It’s not your fault” she whispered, broken. She got off the bed, rushing to me and embracing me around the waist. I hugged her back, stroking her new short hair style. My tears fell into her hair, and she drenched my bodice with her own tears.

I don’t know how we sat in silence, but it was long enough for the sky outside to turn a deep purple.

“Cynthia” she whispered hoarsely, breaking the silence, “Don’t come back” I froze, horrified. She obviously sensed that I would argue, because she spoke before me.

“Please listen, I won’t know you by this time tomorrow. I’ve seen it, and I can’t do that to you. Please Cynthia, listen to me for once!”

“I can’t do that Alice” I sobbed “I can’t” she patted my back soothingly.